I dont think you have a leg to stand on actually. If you went to the dealer or Chevy with those numbers they would laugh you out of the building.
Only way to prove this is if the on board computer logged the time and dates of the OLM being reset.Your testimony is just hearsay.
It is hard for me to beleave your Lube techs never said anything about 12K between changes no matter what oil they used. And at only $33.00 for a change that tells me it is a conventional oil.But they have no Liability since they can only change the oil as often as you come in.
This whole trend of more people using synthetics in order to reduce frequency of oil changes is just insane.
Can we all just go back to $30 “regular” oil changes every 3,000-5,000 miles and stop the insanity?
The only people who really need synthetics are driving racecars whose engines cost more than all the vehicles I’ve ever owned, combined.
All three changes wer for 5W30 on their records and employee has written on the receipt that all were synthetic. The charges though were $33 for one, $64 for 2nd and $33 for the third. I saw that this evening and thought maybe they did not put in what they said they were and what is on my record and what they said they did.
The lube attendant with me sitting in the front seat before I left the rack set reset the monitor so it read 100% and then I tabbed into the info buttons and found the display also reading 100% and then let it ride on the dashboard readout for days so I could monitor. Then I would go back and forth reading it and letting it display like you would an odometer and the weather outside.
Thanks for considering my cool head in this. I have read the manual and I have done what the manual says and I have relied on the experts so to speak from the nationwide lube centers to advise me on new trends and what they are seeing is working for their customer base. Other than that, I do not know what regular car drivers do. Regular oil and older cars are one thing. But my dad worked for GM for 35 years and he would be turning over in his grave to see this happen. All of us are experienceing new things to include cars going from the old 6V that held 6 qts to the 5 V which holds 5 qts. The old V’s had that extra qt that might carry vehicles through oil changes. Of course I am not talking about an engine without oil I am talking about an engine that got so gummed up it was as if it had no oil to perform smoothly. I think there is liability in many areas.
The dealership has aksed that the lube co get a sample to send in and they refuse to do that. So if you all can tell us where to send it, I am sure that can be arranged. But what are we looking to tell them to do?
I have to agree with you on that one. 
I’m still curious as to if the oil level was ever inspected and how much oil was in the engine when it went on vacation.
Surely there must have been an oil pressure indicator lamp on at some point in all of this.
Cartalkanne,
Was the oil level ever checked between the oil changes? The OLM estimates the condition of the oil, but does not monitor the level. Did a tech ever mention the oil being low at each change? I have the OLM on my 2010 Cobalt, but the manual still recommends checking the level at each fillup.
Ed B.
The oil was checkd at 6,500 miles when there was a major leak on my driveway. It was however not oil leak but a major condensation of air conditioner which I was told was normal if the weather is really hot. After that the oil was monitored by the OLM.
Not one gauge indicating anything was WRONG with anything until Jan 15, 2011 when CEL came on and flickered wildly. I immediately called ONSTAR to do diagnostics test immediately while I pulled over. No oil indicator lamp ever came on- ever ever no did the pressure gauges change except when you first start up and everything goes to a level on normal.
During any of this 40 odd thousand miles did you raise the hood and personally check the oil level at least once per month (twice is preferred) as recommended by the owners manual?
Running the oil down low also causes the oil to run hotter than it normally would. This leads to sludging and/or oil coking. Coking is basically burnt oil.
The oil was checkd at 6,500 miles when there was a major leak on my driveway.
Anne, 6,500 miles is wayyyyyyy too long to go between oil checks. Some owner’s manuals say to check it at each fuel stop, but once a week should be okay in most cases. Please get into the habit of checking the oil level more often. While you are at it, see if you can visually judge the quality of the oil on the dip stick. Sometimes you can spot sludge before it becomes a problem.
I recommend you not go to businesses that specialize in only fluid changes, like Jiffy Lube and its competitors. They might be convenient, but they are notorious for giving bad advice and making mistakes.
I honored my car’s OLM as does the Saturn owner who is the technical advisor on the hotline at the home office of Citgo who represents 5W30 oil maker and told me he uses the OLM solely. That is about as good a recommendation as it gets. Wouldn’t you think?
This is what I meant about being active vs. being passive, Anne. Being passive is sitting back and waiting for the car to tell you something is wrong. Being active is popping the hood and checking the oil using the dip stick once in a while.
The CEL tells you something is broken (already). Checking the oil prevents things from breaking. As a proactive car owner, your goal should be to prevent things from breaking.
So can they find after the fact that the OLM was reset? Who can prove that for me. Can the dealership just plug the car into computer analysis boards and tell that? If they can, seems the delearship would already do that. I guess they are waiting until they can put the engine back into the body?
I understand being active. I tabbed through all the info, learned the car’s system to alert me, pulled trailers, pontoon boats, how to change oil with my dad, know what wrenches, blow torches, and alan wrenches, changed out the guts of a garbage disposal over an 800# and a dishwasher over an 800# and feel pretty confident. But this totally blew me away with again using the technical people so to speak to tell me how to manage…or fix…
things- the car in this example. I appreciate your response but I am not just the average let her husband do the handyman stuff or the honey do stuff. I have been single for 16 years by choice and while this is not personal and I know that. I really followed what I thought was a maintenance schedule and contacted the experts in the field who said thingsd like, “well you really do not have to change your oil 3,000 miles. And there are new blends that will extend the reduce your oil change frequencies alot. They cost more but they are worth it…” Now I am seeing some backtracking the owner of the lube co but his top empoyee sdaid these things using his customer base as a selling tool.
This is one route in being active versus someone telling me I am at fault. i truly do not believe that and my gut tells me to persue this. There is something wrong here besides the interval oil changing. The situation is way to bad says the dealership for this to ahve happened. I am using this forum to find out what mainstreet America thinks and hope to find
some creative thoughts on what could have happened to make it this bad.
It sounds like you followed the oil change recommendations in your owners manual.
There is no proof that the oil change place did anything wrong if they were following your manual and using oil that met specs.
If your car is under warranty and had oil in it at time of failure, the bill should be paid by Chevrolet. Get the zone office involved. If there are a lot of these failures get involved in a class action lawsuit.
If car had no oil in it, it is all on you. If your car is out of warranty it isn’t your fault but you are stuck. Plead for help from Chevrolet and they might pay half.
Never again believe in such nonsense as 12,500 mile oil changes unless the manufacture is going to warranty your car for more miles than you are going to keep it.
The car had oil in it (just changed in 11/26/10 and showed about 50+% oil life remaining when the chevrolet dealership drained it Janueary 15,2011, changed the oil filter and replaced the injection system under warranty. It is warrantied for 100,000 miles and it had 40,000 at time fo failure.
My dealership is a good one and is willing to stand by me but we are getting the facts as best we can to determine what happened here. It is just to incredible bad not to delve more into the matter as it was explained to me.